QUESTION: DO STUDENT ID CARDS REALLY SAVE YOU CASH WHEN TRAVELING?
ANSWER: DAMN STRAIGHT!

Getting a credit card is on just about every college freshman’s to-do list, somewhere between buying textbooks and plotting a roommate’s demise. But in the last several years, increasing numbers of students are also opting for travel discount cards that offer everything from cheaper plane tickets to health insurance.

The International Student Identity Card (myisic.com), issued by STA Travel, may be the most popular. For just $22 per calendar year, the ISIC offers more than 32,000 discounts—$3 off the Louvre!— and fabulous deals on plane tickets: One Los Angeles–to–Sydney flight was $700 with a student fare, $900 without. More importantly, the ISIC includes travel insurance underwritten by Travel Guard: $100-per-day sickness and hospital benefit and $250,000 emergency evacuation.

Though it offers few discounts at stores and tourist sites, Hostelling International (HIUSA.org) offers additional hookups in terms of accommodations, phone calls, and travel insurance. For $28, the card gives you member benefits to the HI network of 4,000 hostels worldwide: an average of 10 percent off the room. The HIUSA card doubles as an ekit phone card, with international rates of up to 85 percent off.